Stay Sweet
by Cadavatar
Summary: Taffyta's got a lot to sort through to begin with. Then things get worse.
1. Ready

Sometimes, you don't get a back story.

Things are how things are because that's the programming and you stick to it. The stands are set up that way because it is, the track curves where it does because the programmers liked it, and the candy trees double-stripe their branches because someone outside their game had a sick sense of humor and nothing better to do. The police never were elected to their positions, they were made that way.

There is many an occasion that Taffyta will take a look in her side mirror and wonder what things would have been like if she had been made different. What if she had longer hair, or a different name? What if they changed her color palate? But those weren't questions you asked, they ranked up there with 'Why does Nougetsia look like a blue version of Minty Zaki' and 'Rancis, why do you sleep with a mirror every night'. They weren't important. They didn't pertain to the main point of the game.

She envied other games, truly. Even the characters with a back story that was tragic to the point of sheer stupidity, or with just minor details that made them who they were. She was a jerk because she was programmed to be, right? Or was she that way because she wanted to be? Her motto was 'Stay Sweet', shouldn't she live by that? She would claim that it kept her up at night, but since her programming didn't require her to sleep that was sort of a moot point.

Every time she wanted to say 'when things first started' she caught herself. When things first started, Vanellope was a princess in a pink dress with a pink castle. That didn't last very long- maybe a week? A month? Things got blurry in her head, it did for everyone. They all were glitches now, just in a different way. The source code had gone sourer than Sour Bill, and the time before just seemed to blur. She always meant the time when King Candy was around, the way things had been for years. Vanellope may be princess- or president, whatever- but King Candy had that position for a bit longer, and she was still getting used to things.

There were a lot of changes she had trouble adjusting to for a long time, and one of those changes was her sudden lack of importance. King Candy may have been better than her, but that didn't make him a total jerk. And even after realizing that ninety percent of what he said was more malarkey than 'The Swizz', she still held on to things she hoped were at least a little true. Little things, like 'you're my favorite' and 'I'd be lost without you, Taffyta'.

There were times she'd drive her car somewhere and sit in silence, usually in the junkyard or over by the chocolate river. She wanted time alone. The others respected that. (Well, either that or they didn't care about her anymore; she didn't really feel the burning need to ask. 'Stay Sweet' her sucker, they cozied up to Vanellope like cavities.) She had to sort through everything. All her memories. All the lies.

So. Many. Lies.


	2. Set

There was _nothing_ wrong with her.

She needed a place to cool off, which was why she was slouching in the seat of her kart in the tunnel under The Rocky Roads. (She never understood why the mountain range was named that way. She assumed it referenced something outside of the game.) She watched the wind whip by and nestled into her secondary outfit choice, which was a pink coat lined with fur to look like whipped cream. She sniffed idly and sank even lower in her seat.

Candlehead was probably looking for her. At least, she hoped that she was. Maybe Snowanna was helping. Snowanna was nice. Maybe she'd go hang out with her now; since Vanellope Von Glitch was busy schmoozing her friends and rewriting all the game rules, the ones King Candy had laid down for a reason. She wanted things to 'be fair'. Be fair? There was nothing 'fair' about anything she was doing! She wanted to do some randomizing thing to decide who would play the next day? How was that fair, in any capacity?

"Well Taffyta, this way everyone has a turn to get on the board." Vanellope had told her as she explained it. "Just 'cause you're super-fast doesn't mean you should be on there every day, you know." She sounded like she was trying to be nice about it, but Taffyta knew the truth- she just wanted to take her off the board. It was payback for her being mean, even though she hadn't remembered that Vanellope was the princess.

"Uh, yes. It does." She retorted in a matter of fact way, glaring at her sucker to keep from giving the same glare to Vanellope. She was trying to keep calm. "Because obviously I'm really good, and players want really good racers. So that's why we, you know, race for the spots on the choice board. Like we _always have_." She felt ridiculous for even having to make the argument. She didn't want to be rude, but Vanellope needed to learn how to rule, even if it meant adhering to King Candy's guidelines.

"Maybe Vanellope's right." Jubileena piped up, making Taffyta switch her glare to her. She promptly fell quiet. No one else said anything.

"All I'm saying is that it's worked so far. We were happy with it before. If it isn't broke, _why_ are we fixing it?" Taffyta realized everyone's eyes were on her, and while she normally would be basking in the attention, some not-so-tiny part of her felt like she wanted to run away.

Vanellope gave Taffyta a hard stare, and the two of them faced off for a minute in utter silence. No one moved. "Just 'cause you were King Candy's favorite doesn't mean you're right." Vanellope finally stated, and the other racers all looked away from the two of them. Taffyta tried to keep the hurt off her face, her features remaining steely. "You aren't in charge Taffyta, okay?" That was apparently all that needed to be said, because then her royal glitchiness left, along with everyone else.

So that's how things were going to be. There would be no more Random Rasta Race. Everyone would just get picked, 'at random', to race the next day. And of course, she wasn't picked for the first day. She wasn't picked for the second day either. For three straight days, she didn't get to race. It was enough to drive her mad, which was why when Crumbelina approached her that third night, she snapped.

"Hey Taffyta, I was thinking-"

"Were you now? That's new." The blonde girl spat, polishing the front of her car for when she actually got to race.

The other girl gulped and wrung her hands. For someone who posed in such a sassy way on the board, Crumbelina sure had some confidence issues. "I was thinking that maybe, you know, you could go to this thing, over in Pac Man. And I'd totally go with you. Candlehead could come too, since she's your best friend..."

"Is she now?" Taffyta snorted. "Funny, I haven't seen her in a few days. I guess that's what friends do, now."

"Well, she's been racing, so..."

"Oh really?!" Taffyta spun, biting down on her sucker. It crunched to pieces in her mouth. "Well thank _sugar_ someone has! I sure haven't, since, you know, I'm apparently not _important_ anymore. But what do I know, right? It's not like I'm the most talented racer or anything, it's not like I won all my races _fair and square_ instead of changing the code to do it, like _the glitch_."

"D-Don't call her that!" Crumbelina shrieked at her, sniffing. "She's r-really nice Taffyta!"

"Oh yeah, super nice. I bet she's just cream puffs and seltzer." Rolling her eyes, Taffyta took the bent sucker stick out of her mouth and flicked it away. "You just gonna stand there and stutter, Crumble-cake?" She sneered, and the other girl finally broke down and started bawling. For a moment Taffyta just stood there and glared, but after a few second her face softened and she realized she really had hurt the other girl's feelings. "Hey look, I'm not trying to-"

"HERE." Crumbelina thrust a pamphlet into Taffyta's chest and wiped her eyes on her coat sleeve. "You can j-just go by yourself! I wanted to be _nice_." She stomped off to her car and peeled out, marzipan sand flying in a cloud behind her.

Sighing, Taffyta considered following her, maybe taking her to the lollipop field for a picnic. But she took a look down at the pamphlet and her eyes widened before she gritted her teeth, throwing the offensive material into her car with a loud screech. That was when she peeled out too, changing her outfit before heading to where she was now, friendless and alone.

She wondered if Candlehead was really looking for her. She also wondered, if she was, would she yell at her for making Crumbelina cry or if she was actually worried about her. It was probably the former, _if_ she was looking.

She took another look at the rectangular piece of paper in her lap, frowning. She suspected Crumbelina got it from Vanellope, who got it from the big guy that needed a bath.

"Bad-Anon: One Game at a Time." She muttered in monotone, frowning as she opened it for what felt like the thousandth time, reading it over again. "You must love you. Just because you're bad does not mean you aren't... Good." She scoffed at it and rolled her eyes. In the bottom right was a mantra, circled with arrows pointing to it. Above it were the instructions 'Tell yourself this every day!' She gulped.

"I'm... bad. And that's good." She muttered, pausing. "I'll never... be good. And that's not bad. There is no one I'd rather..." She stopped and glared at the pamphlet before getting out of her car, crumpling it up as she exited the tunnel, wincing at the wind stinging her face. Looking into the distance as she reached the edge of the track, she pulled her arm back and flung the piece of paper as far as she could into the wind, watching it get blown away. It vanished in seconds.

"There is nothing wrong with me." She snarled, hopping into her car and driving off. As she cruised through the tunnel and exited the other side, she gulped and looked into her mirror, reassuring herself.

"There is _nothing_ wrong with me."


	3. Go

**I rarely put author's notes on my work, and when I do I usually put them at the end, but this is an exceptional case so I would appreciate it if you all would pay attention to it. **

**Do not think for a moment that I have ever ignored your collective questions about updating **_**Stay Sweet**_**. There have been plenty of people flooding my inbox about it on a regular basis. This chapter is long and took me a while to story board, hence the wait. **

**But do not, please, post reviews on my other works asking me to update. It was downright disheartening to find that one of my other narratives has a review that has nothing to do with it, but rather is a plea to update something completely unrelated. I can't get rid of that review, either. It is stuck there forever, as a reminder that apparently my other stories don't matter to that person, just this one. And whoever wrote it? That was downright rude, and I hope you understand what you've done. But congratulations, I'm updating. Enjoy. **

Finally. Four days of no racing, and Vanellope's stupid randomization system finally picked her. It took long enough, that was for certain. Taffyta frowned and adjusted one of her mirrors, catching Jubileena looking at her in the reflection. The redheaded racer averted her eyes and sunk lower in her seat while Taffyta huffed through her nose, revving her engine as she waited for the next game to start. She had gotten second place twice that day thanks to Vanellope Von _Cheater_, and the second time around she was even a player character. It really ground her gumdrops.

Ordinarily she wouldn't have cared- after all, King Candy got first place almost all of the time when he was around, despite whether he was a player character or not. But that was different. Goodness knows she couldn't tell anyone that lest they call her out on liking him more than Vanellope, but it was true regardless of what everyone else thought. King Candy won his races fair and square, because he was a phenomenal racer and that was all he had to be. He played by the rules. He got his power-ups with the blocks placed on the track like everyone else, he gained speed and got ahead of people using the arrow strips like everyone else, and he used his kart and its strengths to the best of its abilities, like everyone else.

But Vanellope? All she did was cheat. How was using her glitching powers to zoom up the track and appear in front of everybody in the least bit fair? Answer: it wasn't. If she would just quit doing it, maybe Taffyta wouldn't have been so angry. But she kept glitching and cheating, over and over, no matter what. And here they thought King Candy was unfair? This was ridiculous. But apparently she'd been doing it for the past four days and no one else complained about it, because when she tried to say something, nobody even listened to her.

The blonde racer gave Candlehead sidelong glance and bit her lip, looking back down to her steering wheel. Her so-called best friend didn't even say hello to her when she joined the lineup that morning. In fact, she even had the audacity to change her kart position to be closer to Vanellope. Now she was stuck next to Swizzle Malarkey, who was of the mind that since Candlehead and Rancis weren't talking to her anymore, it meant he had free reign to talk her ear off.

"So then I said to him 'look out mate, because here's The Swizz, coming to getcha!' And wouldn't you believe it, I did just as I said! He didn't have Buckley's chance anyway, but hey! It was so ace!" The aforementioned racer pumped his fist and then pointed at her with both his fingers, winking. "And might I say that was one beaut of a race last run?"

Suppressing a gag, Taffyta rolled her eyes instead, looking back to Candlehead. She and Rancis were laughing it up with Vanellope, who was glitching back and forth as she told some stupid story. Even Snowanna was in on the laugh fest. "I got fourth place." She finally replied, looking back to Swizzle in hopes that he would bore her to death so she wouldn't have to take in any more of this absurdity.

"And good onya!" The Swizz replied, raising his fist to bump against hers in congratulations. She looked at it and raised an eyebrow. He lowered it slowly and gave her a half smile in return, realizing that fourth place to him was not the same as fourth place to her. Perhaps he could be taught. "Hey, it'll be apples sheila. You're a great racer. I'm betting you'll cream 'em next match." And as he finished, the quarter alert bell went up and everyone hopped into their cars, revving their engines as the announcer started up his spiel. Swizzle grinned and gave her two thumbs up for good luck. Taffyta resisted the urge to slam her face into her dashboard.

Everyone paid attention as the player went through the track selection- usually you could tell what type they were going to be based on that alone, and sometimes even what cars they'd pick. The cursor immediately hovered over the expert track in the Marzipan desert and clicked it. The track began to shift, the fan seats spinning and locking to block off the fork in the road, so only the right was accessible. Taffyta knew that down the line, other track portions were being walled off the same way.

All the racers strapped on their goggles or pulled down their visors, Taffyta included. The sand from the desert was relentless in its pursuit to get into everything, eyes included. Thankfully it didn't taste too bad, but it was irritating nonetheless. After the driver had chosen whether they wanted to drive manually or automatic (manual, this guy was serious) the avatars came up on the screen. Every racer held their breath as they shifted through them until finally making their choice.

The player chose Taffyta.

The other racers gave her no sign of approval aside from Swizzle, who nodded at her with a wide grin. Ignoring the loser, the blonde girl leaned back and slid down farther into her seat, eyes narrowing as a smirk grew on her face, splitting it almost in half. She was winning this race for sure. Her car had the best traction and handling in the entire lineup, and that was the difference between a crash and an effortless turn in the desert.

Within seconds, the countdown sounded and the crowd roared. The screen lit up and focused on her grinning face, then panned out to show the other racers. Her hands gripped the wheel so tight she could feel the bones in her fingers creaking. The buzzer sounded for takeoff and she felt the player hit the gas on her vehicle as she did, and the gear beside her shifted on its own as she peeled out with a wild shriek of excitement. _This_ was a real player. _This_ was what she was made for. The other racers melted away and her troubles were left in the dust.

Forget Swizzle, with his annoying qualities and stupid accent.

Candlehead could eat her chocolate flaked dust for all she cared.

And Vanellope Von Glitch? Well, she could promptly go fondant herself. This was Taffyta's race, and her time to shine.

The expert race was three laps long, and she was in the lead for the first two with ease. She hit every power up and speed arrow on the track while the others lagged behind, the sand causing them to wipe out. She heard the pinging sound of the roster dropping a racer and glanced away from the track to see her dashboard control- Adorabeezle.

"Poor dear." Taffyta crooned before laughing. Her player kicked her into overdrive, and her car kicked up more sand as it sped ahead. Watching the road, Taffyta frowned. The turn was coming up rather fast, and her player wasn't downshifting. She gulped, but her hands kept on the wheel, driving straight. "No, no, no..." She whispered as she looked at her wheel, willing it to turn. But it didn't turn fast enough, and she smacked into the wall, spinning out. "Rock candy!" Taffyta shrieked as her car righted itself, and as she got back up to speed, she heard the worst phrase ever uttered.

"Behind you..." The blonde spun and watched as the princess of Sugar Rush smirked and proceeded to glitch around her, car forming just a foot away from Taffyta's front bumper. "In front of you!" The girl called over her shoulder and she sped away. Taffyta gritted her teeth and bit back a scream of rage.

No. She would NOT get second place this time, not again! But even as she hit her top speed, she still wasn't catching up to Vanellope fast enough. She was going to lose to the cheater again.

'_There's something you can do.'_ A voice in her head reminded her, a familiar lisp that forced its way into her consciousness. Taffyta let go of the wheel and hit the player pilot button, handing all control over to the human on the outside for the moment being. While the player attempted to catch up with Vanellope, Taffyta ripped open her gear box, exposing the inside. "Look for the orange wire, the _orange_ wire..." She muttered as she sifted through the contents carefully. Finding it, she grinned and yanked, hard. It came loose, and her car disconnected from the player entirely. Gripping the wheel, Taffyta slammed the top of the box back into place and shifted gears, speeding up rapidly. The player was unaware of the change and drove like they were still in control, but in reality? It was just Taffyta now.

There was no room in her plans for human error.

She shifted over to a speed arrow and blew through it, gaining ground on her adversary with no problem, now that the pesky player wasn't holding her back. She knew they would be making the same moves anyway; she was just making everything much more accurate. That wasn't a bad thing. King Candy did it all the time with the young players, to make them feel better about themselves. She wasn't hurting anyone.

'_Players want to play racers that win, Taffyta._' The little voice continued as she made the turn, catching up with Vanellope again. Time seemed to slow as they were side by side, and Taffyta glared at the girl as she pulled her finished sucker out of her mouth, saying only two words, a contained 'Fondant you' not-so-well-hidden beneath the surface.

"Stay sweet." She flicked the sucker stick into Vanellope's cockpit with a grin and hit the gas, the straightaway to the finish line getting shorter and shorter in front of her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment as she crossed the finish line, savoring the victory as she hopped out of her kart, grabbing the trophy and holding it above her head as her avatar was presented to the player. She smirked at them and gave them a thumbs up, but they didn't seem to be paying her any attention. She kept her smile on and chose to ignore it.

Once the ordeal was over though, she handed the trophy back to the announcer to polish up for the next winner. It was just a prop anyway, no big deal. But the gold coin extended to her, now _that_ was the prize. She smiled and kissed it as the other racers pulled in, tossing it up and catching it in her hand as she pulled out another sucker. She left like a million gold coins. She got her spunk back. She all but skipped back over to her kart, but standing right in the way was Vanellope, glaring peanut brittle shards her way. The phrase 'if looks could kill' definitely came to mind. But Taffyta was on top of the world; and the swagger in her step was certainly not about to be compromised by a former glitch.

The girl came to a halt about half a foot from Vanellope, and she clicked her tongue, pulling the sucker out of her mouth. "Sore loser much, President?" She asked, eyebrows lifting. "It's not my fault your kart isn't built for the sand track." Vanellope's eyes narrowed and she looked ready to say something, but she refrained, opting to just stomp off, hands in her pockets. "That's so mature of you!" Taffyta called after her, and the call went up for last game just a few minutes later, after another race where she didn't win. That was just fine though, since she wasn't the player character.

It was Swizzle who approached her later, hands shoved in the pockets of his sweatshirt. She was polishing her kart and whistling a cheery tune, and when he approached, she smiled. "Lookin' good, Swizz!" She chirped, her mood completely reversed. But just as she had switched to a chipper and much more pleasant mood, he looked noticeably more upset. He gave her a weak smile and kicked at the dirt.

"G'day, Taffyta."

She frowned momentarily, noting his tone. That wasn't the usual Malarkey, not one bit. "What's wrong, sour patch?"

The other racer rubbed his arm and looked away, frowning. "Well, uhm. I know that Vanellope's coming to talk to you, about something. But I thought I'd just come talk to ya' first, and let you know, so you won't get caught off guard, but..." He bit his lip. "She- Vanellope, I mean- thinks that you, uh. Cheated. In the race."

"What." Taffyta was to stunned to even properly ask correctly, the inflection that was supposed to form lost.

Swizzle grew animated at her response. "I know, right! I told her that you wouldn't!"

"What." Taffyta repeated, dumbstruck. How did she know? She took a look inside her kart, at the gearbox that she had just finished rewiring. Did she see her pull the wire? Was the top askew when she passed her?

Huffing, Swizzle crossed his arms and looked off to the side, angry as a candy corn crow. "She said your player patch was missing! Can you believe it? I mean, that's ridiculous! And of course, the rest of us wouldn't know. Crikey! This really grinds my gobstoppers!"

"The player patch." She whispered, hands coming up to cover her mouth as her eyes grew wide. The sticker, the one that appeared on the back of every racer's cart when they were in play, to denote they were the player character! She didn't realize that it dissipated when she pulled that wire. "I-I have to go." She stuttered, hopping into her kart and turning it back on. Swizzle stared at her, confused.

"What? Why?" But she peeled out without answering, shifting gears and blowing down the road. She had to think. She had to think of a reason, a logical explanation. Maybe she could chalk it up to kart failure? She twisted and turned on the track, catching sight of Rancis and blowing past him, ignoring his shout that mostly certainly sounded like 'Vanellope's looking for you!' She pretended her motor was too loud for her to hear. Her panic took her to The Rocky Roads yet again, and she entered the tunnel at top speed, biting her lip as she braked, slowing to a leisurely coast, leaning back in her seat and sighing. She was really starting to like the solitude of this pla-

A large thump and a crack caused her car to spin out, and she slammed into the wall, blinking in dazed confusion. "What in the red hots..." She mumbled, shifting her helmet back into place so she could see. She looked around and didn't see anything. Maybe an avalanche happened outside? She tried to reverse her kart, but it was stuck on a busted stalagmite. (Or was it a stalactite? She could never remember.)

Climbing out, she circled around to the front, pushing it with all her might. "C'mon, you stupid kart!" She groaned through gritted teeth, feet digging into the ice cream snow.

"Let me get that for you." A voice said, and Taffyta paused to blink, eyes growing wide when a pair of talons picked the kart up and deposited it back on the track. Mouth agape, Taffyta backed up against the wall, pressing her hands against it as the voice continued. "Well well, my favorite racer! I'm so thrilled!" He chuckled, picking her up by her collar. Taffyta shrieked and squirmed, closing her eyes and sobbing until she was put down, totally unharmed. A few moments passed as she regained her breath, and as she opened her eyes, she was face to familiar face with a man she thought she would never see again. In his strange talons he held out a sucker to her, smiling like she was the most wonderful person in the world.

"Have some candy!"


End file.
